A veneer is a very thin layer of ceramic bonded to the front of the tooth. Done badly, it means sound tooth ground away to make room for something bulky. Done properly, the ceramic goes on top and the tooth underneath is left almost untouched.
That only happens when the design comes first. The shape is designed digitally on your own photographs, made as a trial restoration and fitted in your mouth so you can look at it, speak with it and photograph it. Only what you approve is made.
And something that is rarely said out loud: veneers are not always the answer. If the tooth has lost too much, if the gum line is the real problem, or if whatever caused the wear is still happening, a veneer will hide it and then break again. Those things get said beforehand, not afterwards.
Front teeth wear down from grinding, from acid, or simply from the years, and the smile shows a little less tooth each year. Veneers give the length back — but first we look at why they wore, because the cause does not stop on its own.
When not: when the wear has gone through the whole mouth and the bite has collapsed in height — then the answer is a full rehabilitation, not six veneers.
Whitening works on colour that came from outside. It does not change colour that is inside the tooth, nor old fillings that have darkened. Ceramic brings its own colour and does not fade back with coffee.
When not: when whitening is enough. If it can be solved without ceramic, it is solved without ceramic.
Small lateral teeth, gaps, one tooth rotated, two that are not the same length. The design shows what ceramic can correct and what would look forced if it were pushed too far.
When not: when the teeth are too far out of position. A few months of orthodontics and then very thin veneers is better work than bulky ceramic covering crooked teeth.
Too white, all identical, a dark line at the gum, edges that no longer seal. They are removed carefully, what is left of each tooth is assessed, and the case is designed again from the beginning.
When not: when the tooth underneath has already been cut back too far. The honest answer there is a crown, not another veneer.
The outer layer of the tooth, the enamel, is also the only surface ceramic truly bonds to. The more of it that stays, the more stable the veneer — and the more options you still have in twenty years.
The order is always the same: the final shape is designed first, and only then is it decided how much has to come off to make room — never the other way round. In a fair number of cases the answer is “nothing”.
Four situations, from the least intervention to the most. Which one applies shows up in the trial restoration, on your own teeth.
The ceramic is as thin as a contact lens and is bonded to the tooth as it is. This works when the teeth are small, worn or set slightly back — that is, when there is room to add something without taking anything away.
A very thin layer is smoothed away, staying within the enamel. This is done when room is needed to mask a dark colour, or to stop the tooth sitting further forward than its neighbours.
A tooth that has fractured, that carries large old fillings, or that has had root canal treatment will not hold a veneer safely. There a crown or an inlay goes on instead, and we say so from the start — a veneer on the wrong tooth is not more conservative, it is more fragile.
If too much gum shows, or the gum line is uneven, the issue is not the length of the tooth. The gum line is corrected first and left to mature, and then thin veneers go on — instead of bulky ones trying to disguise a contour that was never fixed.
Full face, with retractors, profiles, close-ups, and video while you talk. The design is made on your face, not on a plaster model.
The trial restoration goes over your own teeth. Nothing has been prepared yet. You live with it and say what you want changed.
Once the shape is approved, only the minimum that shape requires is removed — in many cases nothing at all.
Rubber dam isolation, one tooth at a time, unhurried. The bonding is the restoration — it is never rushed.